The Book Thief

Max Vandenburg arrives exhausted in the Hubermann kitchen in November 1940. Liesel happens to walk into the room, but Hans assures Max that this is no cause for alarm because she is a good girl. Liesel later thinks, “For the next hour, the good girl lay wide awake in bed, listening to the quiet fumbling of sentences in the kitchen. One wild card was yet to be played” (61).

As a teenager growing up in Stuttgart, Max loved fistfights. His favorite opponent was Walter Kugler. The two battled each other 13 times and developed a friendship by the time of their last battle. In 1938, when the Nazis begin smashing up Jewish businesses, Walter intervenes to smuggle Max out of the city. The latter is heartbroken to leave his mother and family, but they urge him to go.

Max’s mother gives him Hans’s name and address. Then, Walter goes to Molching to make the arrangements: “Max made his way to Munich and Molching, and now he sat in a stranger’s kitchen, asking for the help he craved and suffering the condemnation he felt he deserved” (65).

Liesel hears her foster mother’s voice in the kitchen after meeting the stranger. Expecting an explosion, Liesel slips into a corner to watch. Incredibly, Rosa offers the stranger some soup: “Liesel, from the hallway, could see the drawn face of the stranger, and behind it, the worried expression scribbled like a mess onto Mama. She looked at both her foster parents. Who were these people?” (65).

The following day, Hans has a serious talk with Liesel. He takes her to the basement and explains that the stranger will be staying with them. He tells her about his debt of gratitude to Max’s father and insists that Liesel keep the Jew’s presence a secret. Hans warns that if Liesel tells anyone, he will burn all her books. Then, the Nazis will punish all the Hubermanns and take them away. Liesel is terrified and starts to cry but promises to keep the secret.

While recovering from the trauma of his escape, Max sleeps for three days as Liesel watches him. She realizes that he has nightmares just as she does. When he finally awakens, he grabs the girl by the arm: “When Papa came in, he first stood in the doorway and witnessed Max Vandenburg’s gripping fingers and his desperate face. Both held on to Liesel’s arm. ‘I see you two have met,’ he said” (68).

Max moves down to the basement to conceal him better from the outside world. Much to everyone’s surprise, Rosa becomes even-tempered and manages the situation decisively. When the weather gets too cold, Max sleeps upstairs beside the fire but goes back to his cubbyhole during the day.

Liesel and Max begin to form a friendship. They learn about each other’s fist fighting exploits and that both suffer from nightmares. Max says that in his nightmares, he is always saying farewell to his family. To help save Max’s sanity, Hans begins playing the accordion at home, and Liesel brings home discarded newspapers so that Max can work the crossword puzzles.

On Liesel’s 12th birthday, she receives a new book entitled The Mud Men. Max is embarrassed that he has no gift for her, but she gives him a hug anyway. He secretly resolves to make a present for her.

Using pages torn from Mein Kampf, Max fashions a storybook for Liesel’s birthday. He calls it the Standover Man. In the story, he explains that he has always feared men standing over him. He talks about his years fighting, his need to flee his town, his nightmares, and his friendship with Liesel. He concludes that the best standover man isn’t a man at all. Liesel is touched by the gift. When she goes to the basement to thank Max, she finds him asleep and curls up beside him.